Protests, looting erupt in Minneapolis over racially charged killing by police

MINNEAPOLIS, (Reuters) - Protesters clashed with riot police firing tear gas for a second night in Minneapolis yesterday in an outpouring of rage over the death of a black man seen in a widely circulated video growing limp and lifeless as a white officer knelt on his neck.

The video, taken by an onlooker to Monday night’s fatal encounter between police and George Floyd, 46, showed him lying face down and handcuffed, gasping for air and groaning for help, repeatedly saying, “I can’t breathe.”

The second day of demonstrations, accompanied by looting, began hours after Mayor Jacob Frey called on prosecutors to file criminal charges against the white policeman shown in the video clip pinning Floyd to the street.

The policeman and three fellow officers who participated in Floyd’s apprehension, were dismissed from the police department on Tuesday as the FBI opened an investigation of his arrest.

Floyd, reportedly suspected of trying to pass counterfeit bills at a corner eatery, was pronounced dead later that evening at a hospital.

Hundreds of protesters, many wearing face coverings, filled streets around the police department’s Third Precinct station late on Wednesday, about a half mile from where Floyd had been arrested.

The crowd grew into the thousands as night fell and the protest evolved into a standoff outside of the station, where police in riot gear formed barricade lines while protesters taunted them from behind makeshift barricades of their own.